Bridging the Gap from Strategy to Execution - PMI Chicagoland · Why Strategy Execution Unravels -...

Bridging the Gap from Strategy to Execution

PMI Chicagoland Dinner Meeting

March 14, 2018

Randall Rollinson

LBLStrategies.com

Presentation Outline

What is the “strategy execution gap?”

How can teams mitigate the gap?

What to keep your eyes on?

Feel free to ask questions at any time.

© LBL Strategies, 2018. All Rights Reserved.2

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Strategy Management

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What is a strategy

execution gap?

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Remember the movie Groundhogs Day?

We all know the routine

▪ A leadership comes together to formulate strategy

▪ Armed with good intentions leaders ask their units to execute

▪ All too often a gap in understanding and performance occurs

▪ This translates into unwanted costs, lost opportunities and often failure


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High cost of failure

According to the 2017 PMI Pulse of the Profession report, which surveyed 3,234 professionals globally researchers found that in 2016

“companies wasted $97 million for every $1 billion invested in projects and programs.”

Mark Langley, President and CEO, PMI


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Symptoms of the gap

“Only 62% of strategic initiatives are successful.”

(PMI Pulse of the Profession®: The High Cost of Low Performance, May 2016)

“30% of managers cite failure to coordinate across units as their

greatest challenge to executing their company's strategy.”

(Harvard Business Review. Why Strategy Execution Unravels - and What to Do About It, by Donald Sull, Rebecca Homkes and Charles Sull,

March 2015)

“Only 11% of managers believe that all their company's strategic priorities

have the financial & human resources needed for success.”

(Harvard Business Review. Why Strategy Execution Unravels - and What to Do About It, by Donald Sull, Rebecca Homkes and Charles Sull,

March 2015)

“Only 47% of the leaders believe their organization is good at implementing

strategy.”

(Excellence in Execution: How to Implement Your Strategy by Robin Speculand,Strategy Implementation Survey 2016)

The Pulse of the Profession is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc.


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Why does execution failure occur?

1. Strategy not sufficiently customer centric, innovative, or broadly empowering.

2. Assumptions driving strategy are not communicated in ways to inspire.

3. Betting on one big strategy rather than advancing an agile portfolio of small bets.

4. Inability to put aside biases and look beyond siloed concerns.

5. Lack predictable resources at launch so strategic initiatives can advance quickly.

6. Failure to recognize IT architecture is essential to effective alignment and sustained execution.

7. Dispersing responsibility for strategy, project management, risk management and research functions across multiple leaders.

8. Failure to align strategy with talent and HR management.

9. Failure to establish and maintain a culture of “accountability”.


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How can teams

mitigate the gap?

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Four fundamental strategy execution principles

Leaders must treat the organization’s strategy as a hypothesis to be tested rather than a map to be followed

Leaders and middle managers are two-sides of the same coin and must act as one

Excellence in communication is embraced as the most important core value… Communication is the currency of success

“Collaboration IQ” is highly valued and reinforced as the most important execution capability… When organizations approach

collaboration as a management discipline success rates rise


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Principle #1Leaders must treat the organization’s strategy as a hypothesis to be tested rather than a map to be

followed


Our suggestion: Incorporate agility into strategy execution

What is Strategic Agility?

“Able to exert

influence over the

environment”

Peter Drucker

Able to adapt

rapidly to changing

circumstances

© LBL Strategies, 2018. All Rights Reserved. 12

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Strategic Agility

Can think strategically and use an effective strategic management

process to continuously grow and evolve the organization.

Core values are so deeply imbedded they are immediately used to make strategic and operational decisions.

Can pick up on weak signals, anticipate the external trends and

take timely action to pursue uncontested market opportunities.

Can leverage existing and build new core competencies to achieve

strategic results.

Team is united and achieving tangible results which validates

organization is navigating in the right direction.

Can implement, evaluate and agilely adjust goals, strategies and

objectives to achieve continuous growth. Strategic performance is improving

by agilely making changes to correct performance gaps based on KPIs.

Established track record for effectively prioritizing strategic

initiatives to reduce performance gaps and achieve strategic results.

Learn from strategy execution and adapt plans and original

assumptions on an agile basis to gain sustainable growth.

Team proactively works together to sustain a strategy focused

organization, where collaboration is expected and practiced.

Characteristics of Strategic Agility


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Strategic Agility Cadence


Plan Execute

Evaluate Plan Execute

Evaluate Plan Execute

Evaluate

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Practical Strategic Agility Tools and Techniques

▪ Scenario Planning

▪ OKRs (90 day cycle)

▪ Double Loop Learning

▪ Prioritization 2x2 Matrix

▪ Cut Before You Add


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Principle #2Leaders and middle managers are two-sides of the same

coin and must act as one


Our suggestion: Leaders and middle managers must up their game

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The Vital Role of Leaders in Strategy ExecutionWhere leaders are failing?

“The current generation of leaders has been taught how to create a plan but not how to execute it.”

“Many leaders are guilty of delegating the execution and not paying adequate attention to it.”

“If leaders regard strategy execution as a standalone project, it will fail.”

“When leaders create the right conditions for execution and guide people through the journey, it demonstrates their authentic commitment and sincerity.”

“A significant shift in strategy requires a significant change in a leader’s day-to-day activities across the organization.”

“When leaders execute a long-term strategy, but are measured and rewarded for short-term performance, this creates a tense juxtaposition that many organizations fail to address.”

Reference: Excellence in Execution: How to Implement Your Strategy by Robin Speculand


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The Vital Role of Leaders in Strategy ExecutionWhat must leaders do?

Sustain commitment, involvement, and leadership of the implementation process

Marshal resources strategically, double down on capabilities that matter most and prune back everything else


Get your team to do what you want done, because they want to do it

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Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez

Project Management Champion to the World

PMI Past Chair

“My prediction is that by 2025, CEOs, senior leaders and managers will spend at least 60% of their time selecting, prioritizing and leading the execution of projects; as opposed to the 10% they spend today on average.”


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The Vital Role of Managers and Project Management Professionals in Strategy Execution:

▪ Managers are the linchpin of Execution. They…

▪ absorb information from above and below.

▪ bridge communications by understanding and clearly communicating priorities.

▪ ensure right actions are taken while providing corrective feedback.

▪ clarify individual responsibilities and expected results.

▪ coach by sharing best practices, learning from mistakes, removing roadblocks and providing feedback.

Reference: Excellence in Execution: How to Implement Your Strategy by Robin Speculand


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To summarize…


Leaders must create the right conditions and stay deeply involved in execution

Minimize the number of priorities and have the resources required in place

Provide clear roles, responsibilities and accountabilities

Engage employees in the journey

Balance short term versus long term thinking

Mid-level and project managers must be empowered

Know the organization’s priorities and why they are important

Know the capabilities of their team

Able to guide their team to take the right actions

Take small steps in the beginning – “Go slow to go fast”

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Principle #3Excellence in communication is embraced as the most important core value… Communication is the currency

of success

Our suggestion: Strategy must be communicated (100X)

Don’t wait to communicate until you finish the journey!

Who’s on the team and what does the “journey” look like?

Does the organization agree with priorities? Anything missing?

Do all of our stakeholders embrace our desired future state?

Does the organization align behind “how we get there”?

Is the organization ready to execute this plan?


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All Leaders Must Communicate!

• Personal understanding, commitment and long term view

• Leverage workforce “change agents”

• Enterprise-wide priorities which are good for all stakeholders

According to Franklin Covey’s research…Only 15% of people in an organization can identify their organization’s most important goals and priorities.


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Principle #4“Collaboration IQ” is highly valued and reinforced as the

most important execution capability… When organizations approach collaboration as a management

discipline success rates rise

Our suggestion: Align strategy across and down through the team

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May 25, 1961 . . .

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Does your entire organization have

line of sight to your Strategic Direction?

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Alignment

Tier 1: Enterprise

Tier 3:Team & Individual

Tier 2:Department

My Personal

Objectives

DepartmentObjectives

EnterpriseObjectives

Goal

Vision

My Department’s Strategic Objectives, tied to Enterprise-wide Strategic Objectives

My Personal Objectives or Goals (e.g., SMART Goals), from my Development Plan


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▪ Process for building individual and collective accountability throughout the organization.

▪ Success increases when everyone understands how they “fit” into the bigger picture.

▪ Focus on competency development versus pressure for results.

What does organizational alignment mean?


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Strategy Management CompetenciesOur Perspective on Managing Strategic Performance in Turbulent

Times

Strategy Management Competencies

ManageStrategic

PerformanceNavigating turbulent times

requires specific rhythms and capabilities

Foremost is an ability to rapidly adapt to changing

circumstances(Strategic Agility)


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10 Primary Team Strategic Management CompetenciesCan think strategically and understand how to lead their team to become strategy focusedStrategic Thinking

Can identify, articulate, and develop a core set of shared valuesCulture and Values

Can convert external scan information into strategic intelligenceExternal Analysis

Can identify and develop core organizational competencies and capabilities Core Competency

Can focus on a clear purpose and desired future state Strategic Direction

Can identify, evaluate, and select goals, strategies and objectivesStrategy & Objective Setting

Can practice a disciplined approach to selecting performance measures and reaching targetsPerformance Measures

Can use a disciplined process for selecting and prioritizing initiativesSelecting and Prioritizing Initiatives

Can use a strategy execution methodology to sustain focus, alignment and learning (Agile)Execution and Alignment

Can facilitate team work and team buildingTeam Work and Team Building


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Five Levels of Strategic Management Competency

Conflict

Confusion

Clarity

Engagement

Strategic Agility

Conduct a Strategic Management Competency Assessment for your team:

https://www.research.net/r/StrategyManagementCompetencyAssessment

Consider: What is a Project Manager’s role to help an organization move toward Strategic Agility?


https://www.research.net/r/StrategyManagementCompetencyAssessment

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What to keep your eyes on?

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The Brightline Initiative is led by a coalition of senior leaders representing influential organizations from the business,

government, academic, and social sectors.


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Brightline Initiative

1. Acknowledge that strategy delivery is just as important as strategy design

2. Accept that you’re accountable for delivering the strategy you designed

3. Dedicate and mobilize the right resources4. Leverage insight on customers and competitors5. Be bold, stay focused and keep it as simple as possible6. Promote team engagement and effective cross-business

cooperation.7. Demonstrate bias toward decision-making and own the

decisions you make.8. Check ongoing initiatives before committing to new ones.9. Develop robust plans but allow for missteps — fail fast to learn

fast.10. Celebrate success and recognize those who have done good

work.


S T R A T E G Y A S S O C I A T I O N . O R G / 2 0 1 8 C O N F E R E N C E

Join strategic planning and management practitioners, consultants, academicians and many other professionals that share an identical interest in

strategy execution this May 2018 at the Chicago Marriott O’Hare hotel.

Pre Conference Masterclasses and 75-minute Conference Sessions will feature a cross-section of professional perspectives on preventing and mitigating

problems that arise when a well-planned strategy fails at execution.

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Thank You!


Bridging the Gap from Strategy to Execution - PMI Chicagoland · Why Strategy Execution Unravels -...

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